Trek to Patan
Patan is a small village near Malavali. This village can be seen from Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Malavali is one stop where u can alight for various places around it. Lohagad and Visapur forts are in this region. Karla and Bhaje caves are here. Apart from this there are many places to trek and waterfalls during monsoon, around Malavali village. So when I decided to take an eligibility trek for my friends this was the region that first came to my mind. Though I hadn’t visited this place earlier, I knew it would be fun. The trek was decided on 18 on October. I went a week earlier to mark the route. I wanted a terrain where the participants will get an overall experience. This place has lot of waterfalls (they were almost dry in October), the path is narrow and sometimes the climb is steep. I decided the return point to be along one of the waterfalls (the water was less, hence easier to descend), after checking all the risks I carefully marked route for the trek, with three waterfalls (almost dried-up) to cross, and descend from the last waterfall.
There were 10 people who wished to come however only 4 turned up. Parag, Nilesh, Amol, Vinayak and I, was the last count for trek, because early in the morning Ajit decided not to come due to ill health. Amol, Vinayak and Nilesh were little bit late. The first words Amol heard from me was lot of adjectives (I usually don’t abuse people), he came to the trek wearing floaters, also he didn’t bring his lunch. He was more enthusiastic in clicking photographs of trek with his new camera (because he was not able to use it due to heavy rains during his team outing to Raigad).
We reached Malavali by 8:00 a.m., after crossing the expressway over bridge, take a
left turn to go to Patan village. There are metal steps just before the turning on the bridge, that leads to Patan village. Half a kilometer walk will take you to a waterfall behind Patan village. (Be careful of some of the villagers, if you ask them for directions they may ask you for money in return.) The waterfall is big, but dry enough to cross, in winter. From the waterfall a path goes towards a group of huts on the mountain. Therefore there are people going up and down the path everyday, you might find someone who is going the same way. This path is small, enough to walk for one person. In October it was covered with dense plants and grass. I instructed everyone to follow the arrow marks and do whatever they want but just don’t get lost and don’t divert from the ‘arrow marks’. We were quite swift in climbing the mountain except Amol. It was difficult for him to carry his weight and also keep clicking the photographs; rather he was more interested in clicking the photographs. We had to wait for twenty minutes for him to join us, after every fifteen minutes. The second time when we were waiting for him, he came panting and puffing. The first question he asked me was, “is this called trekking?” Last time when he came with me it was monsoon, and they wanted to have a bath in waterfall. I’d taken them to hiking in Kh
andala ghats. So for him trekking was just walking on the road, he didn’t expect to climb mountain through such hardships. I explained him the difference between hiking, trekking and rappelling.
In between there was a grass-patch where there weren’t any markings hence we had to wait for him, so that he should not get lost in the jungle. Nilesh was very enthusiastic and was always ahead of the group. After crossing three, almost dried up waterfalls, we reached the last waterfall (last one of the trek and not of the region). Here I’d marked circles to inform others that the descend starts from here. We unpacked there to rest. There was a knoll from where water was flowing down. It wasn’t big enough to have a bath but we could wash our faces and the stream created
by that water had a smooth, cold current. Along the stream there were big boulders on which we could sit and dip our feet in water. Nilesh and Vinayak climbed up the knoll though I asked them not to do so, because there the mud was sinking, and could be risky. Nilesh could climb up the knoll but it was difficult for him to get down the same path. He followed the other path through the plants to get down the knoll.
We had our lunch sitting on the boulders along the stream; we dipped our feet in water while doing so. There was a fish that wriggled at Nilesh’s leg and he pulled it back with a small scream. We all laughed on him. Parag did a video shoot of the fish with his camera mobile. Vinayak, I don’t know from where, got a fit of hitting the fish with stones. Parag and I tried to stop him but he continued to throw stones in water. At last I had to use few adjectives on him to make him stop doing it. While descending down the water fall, we saw some crabs. Parag and Nilesh took video of that crab. Unfortunately, after the crab went inside his resting hole, Parag realized that he did not start the video shoot, so the entire time he was just fruitlessly following the crab. He didn’t have to regret a lot, because we found another crab just twenty feet away, he shot this crab.
While descending the waterfall, there is a place where it drops down some twenty feet, so we need to change the track and follow the path. This path is through grass, hence we need to be careful not to lose the track of it.
Vinayak decided to defy the rules and not to follow us, he also encouraged Nilesh to defy the rules. He and Nilesh went further down the waterfall, and we continued to follow the path. They joined us later because they realized there is no way down. After this we came across a bigger road (which was under construction) the mud had drained out due to rains and it was an amazing formation. We walked that road for some time and came across another waterfall. This was our last descend. Amol was able to climb the mountain, however, getting down along the waterfalls proved difficult for him. Sometimes he slipped, sometimes the stones shifted, sometimes he had to jump, with his weight, and he was totally exhausted.
At last we reached the waterfall from where we started, the trek was over. In between Amol received a call from TL, there was a party at her place, and he was late. Amol, who was talking of going
to Lonavala, or at least Lohagad, suddenly changed his plans and was in hurry to go home. The person who was lagging behind the entire trek, right from Malavali station (and when we were fresh), was ahead of everyone (after a tiresome trek). We reached Malavali station and luckily got a train immediately. I asked others to come ahead to catch a bogie, but Amol and Vinayak decided to enter the bogie that stopped in front of them (fortunately it wasn’t a ladies bogie), so Nilesh and I were in different bogie, where as others were in a different bogie. The result of the trek was Amol failed as he did not follow the instructions and also he proved himself to be too slow to trek. Vinayak also failed as he not only defied the rules but also encouraged to defy the rules.
Patan is a small village near Malavali. This village can be seen from Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Malavali is one stop where u can alight for various places around it. Lohagad and Visapur forts are in this region. Karla and Bhaje caves are here. Apart from this there are many places to trek and waterfalls during monsoon, around Malavali village. So when I decided to take an eligibility trek for my friends this was the region that first came to my mind. Though I hadn’t visited this place earlier, I knew it would be fun. The trek was decided on 18 on October. I went a week earlier to mark the route. I wanted a terrain where the participants will get an overall experience. This place has lot of waterfalls (they were almost dry in October), the path is narrow and sometimes the climb is steep. I decided the return point to be along one of the waterfalls (the water was less, hence easier to descend), after checking all the risks I carefully marked route for the trek, with three waterfalls (almost dried-up) to cross, and descend from the last waterfall.
There were 10 people who wished to come however only 4 turned up. Parag, Nilesh, Amol, Vinayak and I, was the last count for trek, because early in the morning Ajit decided not to come due to ill health. Amol, Vinayak and Nilesh were little bit late. The first words Amol heard from me was lot of adjectives (I usually don’t abuse people), he came to the trek wearing floaters, also he didn’t bring his lunch. He was more enthusiastic in clicking photographs of trek with his new camera (because he was not able to use it due to heavy rains during his team outing to Raigad).
We reached Malavali by 8:00 a.m., after crossing the expressway over bridge, take a
left turn to go to Patan village. There are metal steps just before the turning on the bridge, that leads to Patan village. Half a kilometer walk will take you to a waterfall behind Patan village. (Be careful of some of the villagers, if you ask them for directions they may ask you for money in return.) The waterfall is big, but dry enough to cross, in winter. From the waterfall a path goes towards a group of huts on the mountain. Therefore there are people going up and down the path everyday, you might find someone who is going the same way. This path is small, enough to walk for one person. In October it was covered with dense plants and grass. I instructed everyone to follow the arrow marks and do whatever they want but just don’t get lost and don’t divert from the ‘arrow marks’. We were quite swift in climbing the mountain except Amol. It was difficult for him to carry his weight and also keep clicking the photographs; rather he was more interested in clicking the photographs. We had to wait for twenty minutes for him to join us, after every fifteen minutes. The second time when we were waiting for him, he came panting and puffing. The first question he asked me was, “is this called trekking?” Last time when he came with me it was monsoon, and they wanted to have a bath in waterfall. I’d taken them to hiking in Khandala ghats. So for him trekking was just walking on the road, he didn’t expect to climb mountain through such hardships. I explained him the difference between hiking, trekking and rappelling.In between there was a grass-patch where there weren’t any markings hence we had to wait for him, so that he should not get lost in the jungle. Nilesh was very enthusiastic and was always ahead of the group. After crossing three, almost dried up waterfalls, we reached the last waterfall (last one of the trek and not of the region). Here I’d marked circles to inform others that the descend starts from here. We unpacked there to rest. There was a knoll from where water was flowing down. It wasn’t big enough to have a bath but we could wash our faces and the stream created
by that water had a smooth, cold current. Along the stream there were big boulders on which we could sit and dip our feet in water. Nilesh and Vinayak climbed up the knoll though I asked them not to do so, because there the mud was sinking, and could be risky. Nilesh could climb up the knoll but it was difficult for him to get down the same path. He followed the other path through the plants to get down the knoll.We had our lunch sitting on the boulders along the stream; we dipped our feet in water while doing so. There was a fish that wriggled at Nilesh’s leg and he pulled it back with a small scream. We all laughed on him. Parag did a video shoot of the fish with his camera mobile. Vinayak, I don’t know from where, got a fit of hitting the fish with stones. Parag and I tried to stop him but he continued to throw stones in water. At last I had to use few adjectives on him to make him stop doing it. While descending down the water fall, we saw some crabs. Parag and Nilesh took video of that crab. Unfortunately, after the crab went inside his resting hole, Parag realized that he did not start the video shoot, so the entire time he was just fruitlessly following the crab. He didn’t have to regret a lot, because we found another crab just twenty feet away, he shot this crab.
While descending the waterfall, there is a place where it drops down some twenty feet, so we need to change the track and follow the path. This path is through grass, hence we need to be careful not to lose the track of it.
Vinayak decided to defy the rules and not to follow us, he also encouraged Nilesh to defy the rules. He and Nilesh went further down the waterfall, and we continued to follow the path. They joined us later because they realized there is no way down. After this we came across a bigger road (which was under construction) the mud had drained out due to rains and it was an amazing formation. We walked that road for some time and came across another waterfall. This was our last descend. Amol was able to climb the mountain, however, getting down along the waterfalls proved difficult for him. Sometimes he slipped, sometimes the stones shifted, sometimes he had to jump, with his weight, and he was totally exhausted.At last we reached the waterfall from where we started, the trek was over. In between Amol received a call from TL, there was a party at her place, and he was late. Amol, who was talking of going
to Lonavala, or at least Lohagad, suddenly changed his plans and was in hurry to go home. The person who was lagging behind the entire trek, right from Malavali station (and when we were fresh), was ahead of everyone (after a tiresome trek). We reached Malavali station and luckily got a train immediately. I asked others to come ahead to catch a bogie, but Amol and Vinayak decided to enter the bogie that stopped in front of them (fortunately it wasn’t a ladies bogie), so Nilesh and I were in different bogie, where as others were in a different bogie. The result of the trek was Amol failed as he did not follow the instructions and also he proved himself to be too slow to trek. Vinayak also failed as he not only defied the rules but also encouraged to defy the rules.
for photos see http://picasaweb.google.com/amit.trek/Patan#
